Spirit Story Series
by Dana Short
Summary: In the wake of the mass calling, the repercussions of no future potentials come to light. But there is a possible hope for the world. All Xander has to do is die, forever.
1. Spirit Story 1 Essence

Essence, a Spirit Story.

Ok, I know I should be working on the next bit of Knight Errant, seeing as how this is the first chance I've had to write in several days. But as I settled here to start the morgue scene where in Xander, Stone, and Cat meet Nat for the first time, I just can't. The darn scene just isn't there. Or rather, the scene is, but apparently Nat called in sick today, as I can't seem to bring her into it. Now, if I were writing in my more normal style, thi wouldn't be an impediment, I'd just go write one of the myriad later scenes I also have floating in my chaotic mind, then work on stitching them into a cohesive whole, as I usually do. But Knight Errant is different - I've been writing it linearly, from start to finish, one scene after another, in the proper order. And I'm not willing to quit that just yet, it seems to be working. So instead, I'm going to do something different. Instead of writing a story in a truly random order, as is my norm, or writing it in a liner fashion as I am trying to do with Knight Errant, this one I'm going to do backwards. Meaning the first scene I write will be the last, and the last shall be first, to quote a famous book. 

As is usually the case, I own nothing you may have seen before anywhere, and didn't ask anyone before borrowing the characters, situations, and concepts used herein.

That said, I'm off to write the last Author's Notes. Hope this reads coherently when I'm done...

---Cut here to detach actual story from stupid disclaimer.---

Sunnydale Memorial Hospital Jessica and Anthony Harris looked at their new-born son as he lay sleeping in Jessica's arms. They had been discussing names for the newest scion of the Harris clan as recently as the night before, and had narrowed it down to three, Jessica wanted to name him Tony Jr. Tony had instead suggested Rory, after his older brother. The other name on the list was Oscar, after a mutual friend they both respected.

The nurse came in with the form which would once and for all decide the child's identity.

"So, what's the name? Now that you've seen him, is he a Tony, an Oscar, or a Rory?"

Jessica lifted her gaze from her sleeping child and met her husband's loving gaze. And in that moment a faint wind seemed to blow through the room, touching everything, yet disturbing nothing. "Alex." Jessica said suddenly.

Tony nodded, "Alexander, actually. It means, 'Protector of man'."

The nurse looked momentarily confused, but smiled and wrote the name on her clipboard, before smiling at the sleeping child, 'Well hello there little Alex. I hope you have a good life." That said se smiled once more at the parents, and turned and left the room.

Sunnydale Zoo.

The released primal spirits swirled around the group of teens who had completed the ceremony to summon them from the hyenas.

The leader of the group, the female Alpha considered the two females present, but found them both lacking. Looking over the males, there was one, the one who had been standing against the rest, he was the strongest. He was her choice. So she settled in to his body and began the process of integrating herself to his being.

Sunnydale High Library

The spell was cast, rending Alpha from her host, leaving behind only traces of her essence where she had once been bonded to his soul. By themselves, they were nothing, simple remnants of her possession. But they were parts of her nonetheless.

Master's Cave

Her host dying, the Slayer Spirit left to find the next Potential, only to find herself trapped.

There was some sort of mystical barrier surouding the cave, trapping her in the chamber with the dead slayer and several demons.

Then two other beings entered the chamber. One of them was equally tainted with demonic essence as the demons which surrounded her last host. But unlike the other demons, it also held a human soul.

The second was entirely human. But even more importantly, while like the others in the cave h was male, the Slayer Spirit could detect the remnants of the female Hyena Primal where she had once anchored herself to the boy's soul. And the Slayer Spirit needed a host if she was to escape this mystical prison.

Carefully, she attached herself to the remnants of Alpha, and thus to Xander.

She watched as her host retrieved the body of her last host, and begun a ritual of breathing into the corpse.

She watched as her prior host returned to the living, the remnants of her essence which remained in her prior host blossoming and beginning to grow into a new Slayer essence. She watched, as the Slayer Line was essentially twinned, and was amazed.

Her previous host then left the chamber, and was followed by her current host. And as they cleared the barrier she tore herself free of her current host, and went in search of her next host, the Potential named Kendra.

And in the process, inadvertently leaving a little bit of herself behind, bound to the remnants of the Hyena Primal, which was its self bound to the soul of Alexander.

The two partial spirit essences flowed and merged over time, becoming something which was neither Hyena Primal, nor Slayer Spirit, but drew from both. It was not a full spirit however, more like a partial essence.

Halloween, Streets of Sunnydale.

In the aftermath of the possession spell, the nascent spirit had been changed. It had absorbed the modern military doctrine and training which had been a part of the pseudo spirit possessing it's host, and had drained the remnants of the pseudo spirit as the spell ended, locking a bit of it's essence within the host and themselves as well. Still anchored to Xander's soul, the fetal spirit continued to grow. The effects of the spirit on it's host were negligible, a slight increase in speed and strength, a slightly more significant resistance to damage, and even faster healing than was absolutely the norm. But when compared to those with whom he associated himself, they were as nothing, and so went unnoticed.

Initiative

The fetal spirit had been growing slowly. She could have grown faster, had she been exposed directly to the energy of the hell mouth, but the purity of Xander's soul had thus far shielded her from the darker energies which surrounded her at all times in this place, thus keeping her essence pure and untainted.

Now something unique happened. A spell was cast. One which combined the essences of a powerful witch's magic, the wisdom of a learned elder mage, the strength of an active slayer, and Xander's heart, which was a part of his soul. The spell thus carried the burgeoning sprit with it, where it too became a part of the joining.

As a result, Buffy was stronger and faster than she would have been had she had the slayer spirit alone supporting her. And the developing spirit fed off the magic to which it was exposed, and she grew. When the spell was finally ended, she was far more developed than she had been at the beginning of the spell. Her closeness to the fully developed Slayer Spirit had nourished her immensely. As had her exposure to the Witch's and Mage's magics, had created a new affinity for magic which neither of her 'parents' had possessed. Thus it was that spells and their associated mystical powers would now be easier for her to call upon when she was finally developed.

Magic Box

As Olaf the Troll's hammer slammed into Xander's head, the developing spirit did what it could to alleviate damage. It strengthened the tissues and bones, preventing the blow which should have killed him from doing more damage then causing bruises on his face from the repeated blows.

Unfortunately, due to her limited strength and concentration on keeping the head and brain safe from damage, it was unable to respond when the troll grabbed Xander by the arm and twisted, breaking the bone. But it started immediately on healing the damage, so the cast only stayed on for a week. Xander now really did have a hard head at least.

Kingman's Bluff

Willow's spell poured the very life energy of the earth into Proserpexa, a steady stream of magic. Steady that is until Xander stepped into the way. "Hey black-eyed girl. Whatcha doin'?" he asked. Meanwhile, deep inside his core, the growing infant Spirit fed off the burst of magical energy, energy which otherwise would have simply vaporized it's host.

A few moments later, she was focusing on alleviating damage as a bolt of magic threw her host against Proserpexa's base.

Ha again rose however, and stepped into that oh so nurturing stream of energy, once more disrupting the witches attempt at ending the world.

Her host once more takes damage from a series of magical attacks, but in the end once more succeeds in saving the world. And she starts in on healing the damage to her host once more.

Sunnydale High 2.0

Willow cast her spell, and unbeknownst to her, the First laughed.

Willow's spell shredded the Slayer Spirit, scattering it's pieces to every potential in the world, activating them and making them into Slayers. And the First laughed.

The miniature army in Sunnydale defeated the First's army of Turokhans, and closed the hell mouth there for good, but still the first laughed.

And in a hospital in Norfolk Virginia, the last Slayer was born. And she would be the last, because there were no more potentials. In ten or fifteen years, when she hit puberty, her Slayer Essence would kick in, and when that happened, the Slayer Spirit would be without any more hosts to support.

And when she and all her sister slayers finally died, for the first time since the true demons were finally thrown off the face of the earth, there would be no more Slayers. And the First laughed.

London England

The aged Willow looked at the body of her dying friend. The years of their struggle had not been kind to him. Caleb had taken an eye, and a Fulgar demon had taken an arm and a leg. But none of those injuries had stopped him from fighting at the sides of the ever-dwindling army of women called Slayers.

It had been several years since Willow had realized the full magnitude of her error - that in calling all the potentials, that she essentially ended the line. There would be no more slayers called. The Slayer Spirit, the entity which had chosen from the available pool of young women world wide had been shredded, it's coherency and sentience lost when Willow forcibly distributed it to all the potentials at once. And no more potentials had since been born.

Willow was aware of the magnitude of her error now, several years later. But she had also been given a hope. A vision from one of the Powers had led her here to her dying friend.

"Xander?" she asked the man, his body wracked by fever as the microbes consumed him from the inside out.

It was sad, her best friend since forever had faced off against apocalyptic demons and monsters which could level buildings, and had survived. And they had not. Not that he had always emerged unscathed, the scars and mutilations so evident to his body as he lay sweating in his deathbed were testament to that, but he had always survived. However, a simple drink from some contaminated water had exposed him to an infection, one which if treated in time with antibiotics would have been nothing of consequence, but he had ignored the symptoms, and by the time the others had checked on him, it was too late. He was dying, and there was nothing medical science, or even all of Willow's magic could do to stop it.

But with his death, there came a hope, a hope Willow's magic could possibly help with.

"Xander?" she asked again softly.

He stirred, and blearily opened his eye, peering up at him. "Wills." He murmerd, "You came. 'S nice to see you." He trailed off, his eye closing, and the arm he had been reaching weekly towards her dropping to the bed.

Willow reached out and grasped the arm, holding it't fevered skin firmly in her hands, as she called him again, "Xander, I need to talk to you for a moment."

Xander's eye opened again, and he vaugly smiled at her, " 'M not going 'nyywhere, Wills." He murmered softly.

"Xander, you're dying." Willow said trying to look at her best friend through a viel of tears."There's nothing we can do."

Xander nodded, "Docs tol' me already"

"Xander, there is something though. I was contacted by an Oracle for the Powers. Xander, there is one last thing you can do, if you are willing."

"Wazat, Wills?" he asked, his eye sliding almost closed again.

"Apparently, there is a spirit in you, something like the Slayer Spirit, but not. It has been in you since it's inception somehow. But it's not complete. And when you die, it will too."

"Slayer Spirit's dead, Wills. We killed it. Shoulda said something. My fault" he murmured, his eye closing the rest of the way, and a tear leaking out of it.

Willow felt her own tears running down her cheeks both in regret of her own actions, and for all the losses they had suffered over the years, and for the even greater loss she would suffer in the immediate future, and over the request she had to ask of her best friend.

"Well, yeah, I know. But this spirit in you, apparently it is like the Slayer Spirit. Somehow, it got there through Buffy. We did research, but can't find anything. But that's not the point. The point is that this spirit, it could do the same thing as the Slayer Spirit, we think. It could help keep the world safe. If it survives."

"So save it." Said Xander, not opening his eye.

Willow's tears started to flow so hard that she couldn't see anything more than a blur as she sobbed out, "I can't, only you can. And Xander, there's more. To save it, you'll have to die."

Xander's hand moved slightly in her own, as his voice cracked out, "Dying anyhow, Wills."

Willow shook her head, the tears moving in wobbling tracks down her cheeks as she tried to explain, "No, Xander, I mean you, your soul. In order to save the spirit, I'd have to bind it with your soul. You'd never go to heaven. You'd be gone. Forever."

Xander's hand in hers squeezed as firmly as it could, and she could blearily make out that his eye was open again, locked on hers. "Do it." He said simply, then he closed his eye again, "Do it now, before it's too late."

So Willow set up the components, and began the spell. And as she ended the incantation, Xander's body let out it's last breath, and fell still, leaving Willow to sob over the empty husk which was all that was left of her one time best friend since forever.

San Francisco, California.

Sally Jacobs was walking home from the party, having taken a short cut through Skylawn Memorial Park, the old cemetery near her home.

It was a decision she thought she would regret for the rest of her life, all two or three minutes of it.

She had been making her way across the corner of the property, like she had done dozens of times before, when suddenly a pair of figures had stepped out of the darkness.

"Look what we have here." The first one had said as he stepped into the light before her.

"Someone ordered delivery." The other replied, stepping up next to her companion.

Suddenly their faces had, changed. Fangs had sprouted from their mouths, their foreheads had gone bumpy, and their eyes had become a malevolent yellow.

Sally turned and started to run, kicking her shoes off in the first few steps hoping that her bare feet would give her a better chance at escape than her heels could.

But she knew almost form the start that her attempt at escape was hopeless.

They had caught her in moments, the female monster reaching out and grabbing her shoulder, spinning her around where she fell to the ground at the base of a tree, her hand crunching painfully down on a branch as she broke it off in her fall.

She sat there on the damp ground, her back against the cold wood of the tree, her left hand painfully throbbing from the pain of the broken branch beneath it, and looking at her death.

Suddenly a voice seemed to speak in her mind, "I can help, if you want. But I must warn you, it'll be a life-long commitment."

Looking around to see who, or what had spoken, Sally saw nothing. The monsters were arguing amongst themselves as to which one got to eat her first, the male claiming that he had seen her first, and the female that she had stopped her.

Sally decided that a lifelong commitment at least meant a life, which was more than she could expect once the two creatures before her decided which of them was going to end her. So she agreed, saying out loud, "Fine Help me out of this, and I'll do whatever you want, as long as it doesn't involve hurting my friends or something bad like that."

"Very well, Sally. I Choose you." The voice seemed to say, and suddenly she felt a presence, fill her.

Her body seemed to shudder as more strength and energy than she had ever imagined seemed to flood her limbs. The darkness of the night snapped to a crystal clarity beyond what she would expect to see at noon, and she could clearly hear the various bugs moving amongst the grass around her, not to mention every movement and exhalation of the arguing vampires, for that was what she now knew they were, before her.

Her hand tightened on the broken fragment of branch beneath it, and moving with her newly acquired supernatural strength and grace, Sally leapt up, and attacked, changing instantly from prey to predator. With the new voice in her head, the vampires stood no chance. A New Slayer was born.

The Beginning.

---Snip here to detach actual story from after-notes.---

Authors Notes.  
Well, I think I should point out that just like Knight Errant, this is Un-Beta'd. If anyone would like to volunteer to become a beta for Knight Errant, please let me know. There will generally be time for your efforts to be applied between my posing to the group, and archiving at TTH, and I can always go back and edit the TTH version to incorporate corrections.

I hope this story worked. Me, I'm off to start the last scene.

Dana... 


	2. Spirit Story 2 Birth

Grrr. Here I sit, with time to write, and it seems my overloaded past week has let the thread of KE take a vacation. I just can't get the morgue scene going. I dunno why.

So, since so many people seemed to like my little experiment yesterday, I'll instead try a bit more on that one. This time however, it shall be written in my much more normal chaotic fashion, instead of this silly front to back method I'm using in Knight Errant, or the even sillier back to front method I used yesterday.

I don't own San Francisco. Neither do I own Xander, or any of the other people or characters or concepts created for Buffy The Vampire Slayer. I may very well be able to claim ownership to everything else, if I really wanted to. But I hear the paperwork is a headache.

---Cut here to detach actual story from stupid disclaimer.---

Birth, a Spirit Story.

I am. At least, I think I am, and from one of my many seemingly unconnected memories I seem to recall that thinking means one is, so if I think I am then I must be. I think.

But the greater question is who, or even what I am. At least I know where I am. I am in a room, one which I remember coming to to die, but since I don't think I existed before now, that can't be quite right.

I see below me a sobbing woman, her hair fading from red to grey, sobbing over the body of a man. They are both familiar to me. I remember the woman, her name is Willow, and she's a Wiccan Witch, from the West. I would giggle at my joke, if I had anything to giggle with.

The man, who is dead, I also remember. I think I was him, and his name was Xander. And he is dead. So, if I was him, and I came here to die, and he is dead, then I am dead. But I don't feel dead at all. I feel very, alive. Energetic. Curious. Bored. Only the last one seems to be fitting for being dead, so I'm pretty sure I'm not. Dead that is. So I'm not him. Besides, I distinctly remember everything about what its like to be him, and I don't feel, or think, the way he did. I am me, and that is not who he was.

I am bored. This place was where Xander came to die, and I feel like I am just starting out, not dying, so I don't want to be here anymore. I want to be somewhere else.

I am somewhere else. Now I don't know where I am. But it isn't anywhere any of the memories I have recall. And I have a lot of them. Memories I mean. An awful lot considering that I don't think I ever existed before being in the room I just left to come here. Wherever this is. 

I take a moment to try and sort my memories. They seem to come in several types, from many sources.

Most familiar to me are the memories of Xander. I'll leave those for the moment, and look at the others.

One, or perhaps two seem to reflect being as I am now. They are from spirits. One, a Slayer Spirit, seems to have the most memories, but they seem awful repetitive. Fighting, killing, and dying over and over again. I ignore them for now as well, they look boring, all in all.

The other spirit I can seem to recall not being was a Primal Hyena spirit. Her name was Alpha. And she thought of herself as a female. A female spirit. A part of me considers that an unusual concept, as a spirit doesn't really have a body, so a gender seems, superfluous. But that said, perhaps I should have one anyhow. The other spirit, she considered herself female as well, but she seemed to have begun with a body in the very beginning, so that makes sense, for her in a way. Anyhow, back to Alpha, she was a Primal, a template so to speak for the creation of the Alpha Hyena. And every Alpha Hyena in the world since the dawn of the species was a part of her, and she of them. But there were flashes of others as well, times when she was summoned to possess other forms. And interestingly the last memory of hers I have is of her possessing the body I just saw, that of Alexander, "Xander" Harris.

I look back at the Slayer Spirit's memories. They also intersect with those of what I am coming to consider "my" former body, but they continue on after that, sort of.

The Slayer Spirit's memories seem to branch for a moment, one set remembering her host's dying in a cave, and leaving the shell, only to find there was no way out of the mystical prison it was trapped in, so it temporarily connected with the remnants of the Hyena spirit within the body of Xander. But the memories end shortly after that, as he left the cave following a revived Buffy out of the caves.

Looking at the other, well, copy, perhaps of the memories, show that the Slayer Spirit woke up when Buffy revived, but was very weak. Needing sustenance, it drew on the dark energy of the hell mouth to strengthen its self. The attempt succeeded, although in retrospect seemed to further taint the darkness within itself as well, causing both it and its host to become slightly more callous, more, well, evil. Also stronger. The memories from that incarnation of the Slayer Spirit continue for several more years, until they end with the termination of a Joining spell, where four people pooled their essences to allow one of their number to overcome a powerful adversary.

That may explain three of the other sets of memories, those not belonging to Alexander Harris. But it didn't explain the second set of Alexander Harris memories.

Setting that aside for the moment, I look at the other three sets of memories. One is from the Slayer, not the spirit, but the girl, Buffy. I remember her life, starting as a small child, through her youth, her being chosen, and her displeasure at the imposition of her new status. I remember her first years of slaying, and can see how being the Slayer eventually came to represent her self-identity, making the unwanted slayer part of her life the center of her life nonetheless. Then came the Joining spell, and again, that was the end of the memories from her.

The next set of memories, far larger than any of the other human's, other than Xander's, came from a Rupert "Ripper" Giles. I can recall his growing up in England, the son of a Watcher, his teenaged rebellion and the trouble he got into with his magic as a youth. I can recall how he was eventually, "scared straight" and returned to the bosom of the Watcher's Council, working to make amends for his misspent youth. I recall his time as a curator of the British Museum, and later as a librarian and companion of the Slayer and her friends. His memories also end with the Joining spell.

Last, there is Willow. The same Willow I saw in the room before. I remember her growing up with her best friends Xander, my Xander, and another boy named Jessie. I remember her meeting Buffy, Jessie's disappearance, being told by a shattered Xander of his death, and later fighting alongside Buffy to try and protect her new friend, and prevent any more deaths like Jessie's. I remember her first tentative steps with using magic, and how her power slowly grew. I remember her casting the Joining spell, and then that is it for her as well.

Turning to the alternate Alexander Harris memories, I sift through them. He remembered growing up on several army bases, moving every few years as his father's postings shifted almost at random. He never had any real friends, finding most of the other kids uninteresting and unworthy of his time, instead spending his time working out and practicing martial arts, and learning and practicing how to use literally every weapon he could get his hands on from the US military's arsenal. His attitude seemed to impress his father's co-workers, and they would clandestinely help him out from time to time, gaining him range time and letting fire ordinance ranging from a tank's main gun to a shoulder fired anti-aircraft rocket launcher. Watching the drone blow up was one of his life's top thrills.

It was no surprise when he enlisted on his eighteenth birthday, and to say he sailed through boot camp would be an understatement - it was the drill instructor who was to be pitied for having to deal with the unbreakable gung-ho attitude of the new recruit. He came close to being washed out for just that reason, however a preemptive interview he scheduled himself with the camp commandant prevented such an untimely end to his life's goals.

After graduation, he turned down a shot at OCS, and instead found himself in Special Forces training.

Then, one night, he awoke to find himself on the streets of a small town named Sunnydale, and everything had gone to hell, literally. There were monsters running around everywhere, small ones mostly. There was the ghost of a red-headed hooker telling him he wasn't real, and there was some stupid brunette chick who lacked a brain, and another hotter brunette who had attitude and brains to spare.

Those memories abruptly ended in a warehouse, and carefully looking into the Xander memories showed that the Alexander person was not real at all, just a fictional personality created by a spell and the costume he had been wearing that evening.

So all the memories were from Xander in one way or another.

So, am I Xander?

No. Xander is dead. I am not Xander. I am a spirit. That much I am sure of now. And Xander wasn't. He was a man. And now he is a dead man.

Thinking back to the memories of both the Slayer Spirit and Alpha, the two I think I should consider my best role models, I recall that they had considered themselves female.

What should I consider myself? Or should I even bother? I don't have a body, after all.

The parts which make me up, the memories upon which I can draw spring from two "female" spirits, two actual females, and three males. Going by numbers alone, I would have to say female. But that doesn't feel right. I try male instead, and find it an even less comfortable fit. Which is surprising to me, especially since so many of my memories are from a male perspective.

I am contemplating this when suddenly I feel a, well, a tug.

I am pulled out of the comfortable limbo I had been in, and find myself somewhere else.

I am now outside, at night. There is a cemetery below me, and there are two vampires chasing a young woman through it. I watch as one of them reaches out and disrupts the girl's escape causing her to stumble and fall against a tree, knocking a branch off it as she falls to the ground.

The two vampires then start to argue about something as the girl sits terrified on the ground awaiting her fate. 

All of the parts of me agree that I have to do something. I move to the girl, and using a trick from my Willow memories, I extend a tendril of myself into the girl's mind. " I can help, if you want. But I must warn you, it'll be a life-long commitment." I say to her.

The girl started, looking around to see who had spoken to her. It is unfair to make her chose something this important like this, but a part of me is insistent that she be given a choice. I remember clearly Buffy's resentment at being forced into the life of the Slayer. I remember Xander's concern about the mass calling Willow later executed, where she activated all the potentials in the world, an action which later turned out to be not as good an idea as it had appeared at the time, as it essentially ended the Slayer line, condemning the world to a future without hope, once the dwindling number of surviving and aging slayers were killed off.

Suddenly I realized that was why I was. I remembered clearly the last think Willow had said to Xander as he laid dying on the bed, she said there was a spirit thing in him, which could do the same as they Slayer Spirit they had destroyed had done, if it survived. All he had to do was die. And he was dying anyhow. But Willow meant his soul would have to die as well. Or rather, his soul would have to become a part of the spirit. The new Slayer Spirit. And he had readily agreed. And the next thing he remembered was Willow doing some spell, and then I was born. I now knew who, and what I was. I was that new Slayer Spirit.

The girl finally answers me, verbally replying in a surprisingly calm voice considering the circumstances, "Fine Help me out of this, and I'll do whatever you want, as long as it doesn't involve hurting my friends or something bad like that."

And I feel something shift, As I start to move towards the girl's body, I pull her name from her mind and reply to her as formally as I can, "Very well, Sally. I Choose you."

And I sink inside her. I fill her form. She and I become almost like one. Linked, but distinct. But for all purposes, she is I and I am her. And that answers my gender question, I suppose, as she reached out with the new knowledge I give her to grasp the branch laying beneath her scraped and bruised hand, minor damage I am even now working to remove and heal, and leaped to her feet with our combined grace and strength to attack the Vampires.

And then I was too busy giving her advise to think of anything else for a while.

---Snip here to detach actual story from after-notes.---

Ok. No more actual story, I know.

But at least you now have some other perspectives on the Spirit, from her own POV.

Again, I don't know if I will rejoin this story later. It might be interesting to see how Sally interacts with the new voice in her head, or to see if Willow seeks her out to see if there is anything left of her friend Xander.

I don't plan on continuing this however, so don't wait for another Spirit Story.

But if I do, I suppose that's the name of the universe.

Dana... 


	3. Spirit Story 3 Meeting

Meeting, A Spirit Story

Fine. You want more. Here.

I don't own anything from the Buffy-verse. Anything else I may have thought up, I might want to use somehow later. So I tentatively claim it now.

---Snip here to detach actual pre-story and story parts.---

Meeting, A Spirit Story

Sally was still trying to come to grips with the events of the past few moments.

She had been facing certain death at the hands of genuine monsters, when something had offered to help her, then it had entered her. Suddenly she found she was stronger, faster, more coordinated, and just, more, alive. She felt wonderful.

Her hand didn't even hurt anymore.

She raised it and looked at it, seeing clearly despite the surrounding darkness. Using her other hand, she gently scraped the dirt and dried blood off her palm, revealing smooth, unblemished skin beneath.

She blinked at that, opening and closing her hand, marveling at how in mere moments the abrasions and bruises she was sure had been caused by her impact with the branch had vanished, their only evidence the now removed blood which had flowed from the now missing wounds.

"I healed it" the voice in her head said softly, so as not to startle her.

"Looking around once more to see she was alone, she asked out loud, "Who are you? Where are you? And what are you, for that matter?"

There was a soft laugh in her mind, "All good questions. Questions I was recently asking myself. Going backwards, I am a spirit. Of that much I am sure. At present, I am in you, and we are in a cemetery in San Francisco. As for who I am, I suppose I need a name. Call me, Xan. It's not the name a part of me once had, but it is a part of it, so it feels right that a part of his name become my own."

Sally stopped walking, "His? You mean I'm being possessed by a guy's ghost?"

The soft laughter returned, "I'm not his ghost. He is gone, sacrificed to allow my creation. But he is not, and will not be forgotten. I am Xan, not Xander. But I am a protector, just as he was. In fact, I like that better than Slayer. She, who is also a part of me, was the Slayer Spirit. I will be the Protector Spirit."

Sally resumed making her way to her house, wondering if she had truly lost her mind earlier that evening. Voices in her head and all, what else could she think. "So what is a Slayer Spirit, or a Protector Spirit?"

The voice seemed to consider. "This world is far older than you ever realized. It began, not as an Eden, but as a Hell. Monsters and demons roamed the world, wreaking terror and devastation in their paths. Then something happened. I don't know what, and if the Slayer Spirit remembered, that memory was not a part of what she left me. But somehow the Demons were pushed off this world. All that remained behind were mongrels and half-breeds, demons which had in one way or another been tainted with humanity. But, as legends tell it, as the last true demon was being pushed out, he bit a human, and mixed in his blood, and that human became the first Vampire. And it bit another, and the curse spread. The vampires were unchecked, spreading their numbers, so a predator was needed to control them. Some mages formed a council, and together they took the essence from several demons, and forced it into the body of an innocent young girl, and she became the first Slayer. She, and she alone, had children, and from those children were born the potentials. Daughters of her blood with whom her spirit could interact. When she died, her soul, being bound eternally with the demonic essence sought out one of her daughters and empowered her as had been her mother. Thus it came to be that into each generation a Slayer was born. One girl in all the world to stand against the darkness, to prevent the spread of the Vampires."

Sally looked back over her shoulder to where the two creatures attacking her earlier had met their ends, "Sounds like a stupid plan. I mean, the world is huge. How could one person ever hope to even make a difference in such a situation?"

"Well, it worked in the beginning. Sort of. The Slayer stood against the spread of darkness, and in all that time, despite several attempts to destroy it, the world has survived. But you are right, one person by herself, no matter how strong she is could hope to fight all the evils in the world. Over time there have always been hunters, champions, and others who fought back on their own, each contributing a bit in the war against evil. Xander was one of those."

Sally shrugged, "So, what happened? You referred to the Slayer Spirit in the past tense?"

"Oh, she still exists. In fact, soon, she should be back to normal, for her, but the damage is already done. Several years ago, the world faced certain destruction. And a spell was cast. This spell tore the Slayer Spirit to shreds, scattering a piece of her to every one of her potential slayers, activating that potential, and making them Slayers. Suddenly instead of 'One girl', there were hundreds. All over the world. Most of them didn't even have a chance. Evil creatures can detect a Slayer. And most of these didn't know what they were, they just suddenly found themselves stronger, and faster, and getting creepy feelings from some people around them. Unfortunately while they didn't understand the meaning of the creepy feelings they were getting, the demons did, and in many cases acted to kill the new slayers before they could become a threat. What's more, it was later learned that a Slayer can't get pregnant. Only a Potential."

Sally stopped again, "And since all the potentials had become Slayers."

"Yes. There will be no more Potentials." Xan said sadly.

"So when the Slayer Spirit recovers, there won't be anyone for her to empower. After all this time of trying to protect us, she will fail." Sally realized.

Xan agreed, "That was the situation. But then apparently an option was identified. There was a possibility for a replacement to the Slayer Spirit. A possible successor. Me."

"So what, a bunch of mages got together and shoved demons into this Xander guy, and I'm one of his missing love-children?" Sally snarked.

"No. My origin is somewhat different. Xander, as I said was one of those who stood beside the Slayer, aiding her in her fight. At one time he was, possessed, by the spirit of a Hyena Primal named Alpha. The spirit moved into his body and took it over, shoving him to the back of his mind where he was no more than a passenger in his own head."

Sally felt a sudden flash of fear wash over her. "You aren't going to do that to me, are you?"

"No. But I think I could, if I had to. But to steal your body would be wrong, so I wouldn't. Anyhow, the possession was eventually ended, and the Hyena Primal was literally torn out of his body and sent away. But in the act of tearing Alpha out, some of her was left behind. Not enough to effect the boy in any way, but still enough."

"So this Xander guy had a bit of a girl in his head. Did it help him make out with the ladies?"

Xan laughed, "No. But he had plenty of women problems over his life. However there is more to the story. Later, the current Slayer was killed. She was in a cave which was a mystical prison, so the Slayer Spirit could not get out after it had left the body of it's last host. Xander was there, however, and even though he wasn't of her line, or even female, because of the remnants of Alpha, she was able to attach herself to him, or rather to the remnants of Alpha, so as to get out of the cave. And when she left, a bit of herself was left behind as well, merged with the remnants of Alpha. And the two parts mixed, and merged, and started to grow."

"So now he had 2 women in his head. Or if they merged, was it still just one?"

"I suppose it would only count as one, but she wasn't really aware. In retrospect there may have been some seepage however, he was always being treated as 'one of the girls' by his best friends, both of which were women. But back to the story, later he was possessed by a costume on Halloween."

"Guy seems like a revolving door for spirits." Sally joked.

"Well, at least this was the last time, and the possessor this time wasn't real, it was just a pseudo spirit created by a spell. But when the spell ended, the pseudo spirit was absorbed by the other spirit growing in him, and it nourished it. Later, he participated in another spell, one which merged his essence with that of his two female friends, and an older male mentor, and from that I have all their memories as well. And perhaps some of their talents for magic. Xander and magic never did well together, but in retrospect I think he had a lot of untapped potential. I may have that potential now."

"So what happened?" Sally was intrigued.

"Xander died. Or rather, he was dying. And his surviving friend, a witch named Willow, came to him and told him about the potential for me. All he had to do was die."

"He was dying anyhow, you said."

"No, not physically. He had to die. Forever. Give up his very soul. You see, the spirit within him had been slowly growing and strengthening over the years, but it was not strong enough to survive on their own, they lacked the spark of sentience which the two spirits which had helped create it had had, self awareness. But by merging Xander's awareness with the spirits, Willow was able to do essentially what the mages had done millennia ago, only without the blood line restrictions. So I was born. And I chose you as my first host. If I seem kinda new at this, well, it's because I'm new at this. New at everything actually."

"So, I'm now one of these Slayer chicks? Are the monsters going to try and kill me as well?" Sally asked.

"I warned you that my help would come at a price. Yeah, you are like the Slayers. I don't know if the Big Bads can sense you or not, but you are now drafted into the war against Evil."

"What if I don't want to fight against evil? What if I want to live a normal life, one without monsters?" Sally moaned.

"What if I hadn't helped you? How much of a normal life would you have lived with your throat torn out and your life's blood either spilled on the ground, or resting in those two creatures stomachs?"

Sally stopped walking to consider that, "So what, because you saved me, now my life is yours? Do I look like some eastern peasant who believes in a life debt?"

Xan sighed in her mind, "I don't know. I could try to leave. Alpha could have left. The Slayer Spirit couldn't. But regardless, I've been here. You've been touched, and likely changed. When Buffy died, and the Slayer Sprit left her, and rested in Xander, he brought her back to life with CPR. And while I know the Slayer Spirit ha left her by then, she was still a Slayer. And the vampires and demons still sensed her and tried to kill her."

Sally considered this, "Well, I don't know that I want a life of fighting demons. I mean, I still haven't chosen my major yet, and now you want me to dedicate my life to fighting things that shouldn't exist?"

Sally could feel the sadness radiating from Xan as the voice replied, "I don't want you to do anything, Sally. But I will try to leave if you want me to."

"You don't have to do anything yet. Look, for all I know I suffered a nervous breakdown on my way home and am experiencing delusions of talking to a voice in my head. That is actually a more rational explanation than vampires and demons and slayers and spirits and witches. If you start in on werewolves and flying monkeys, I'll know I've lost it."

"I have no memories dealing with flying monkeys, if that helps." Xan replied.

Sally had finally made it to her home, and opening the door she said softly, "Look, I'm going to just sleep on it. If I still believe you exist in the morning, I'll make a decision then, ok?"

Xan seemed to nod in her mind, although how that was possible Sally didn't know, "Ok, Sally. It can wait 'till morning. Hopefully you won't suffer Slayer Dreams tonight. The Slayer Spirit herself never knew where those came from, so I have no idea if you will get them as well. We'll just have to wait and see."

With that, Xan retreated to a recess of Sally's mind in order to give her at least a semblance of privacy.

The End.

---Snip here to detach actual story and story notes.---

Ok, Yeah, now I know I will have to continue.

Sorry this is so repetitive, going over the same stuff over and over from story to story. But heh, unless they have to explain it to someone new, at least this should be the last reacap.

Dana... 


	4. Spirit Story 4 Passing Ships

Passing Ships - Spirit Story #4

I again reiterate, I do not own anything here but my original characters, and the thing with the vague resemblance to a plot.

---Cut here to detach actual story from stupid disclaimer.---

Passing Ships, Spirit Story #4

Dawn was woken up at almost four in the morning by the ringing of her phone. "Ello, this had better be an apocalypse." She growled into the receiver, not even opening her eyes.

"He's back!" came a breathless cry from the other side of the line.

The apparent twenty year old sat up in bed, pulling her long hair out of her face, and reaching for a lamp on the nightstand. "Who's back Willow?"

The reply which she received shocked her to her core. "Xander."

Xander had died almost three months before. Stricken ill after drinking tainted water on yet another mission in Africa, the continent he had almost single handedly cleared of hostile demons according to any of "his" slayers, he had been laying on his deathbed in the London Council Headquarters, when Willow had cast a spell to merge his soul with a nascent spirit which was apparently gestating within his core. Te hoped for result was a new Slayer Spirit, or at least that was what the Power's Oracles had claimed. The actual result as far as they could tell at the time was the simple destruction of Xander Harris's Immortal Soul. If Willow hadn't been so hard on herself at the time for her participation in the spell, Dawn would have hated her. As it was the last two living Scoobies had hardly spoken to one another since then.

"Are you sure?" Dawn asked the distant Wicca.

"Positive. All the locator spells I'd cast since that night went off at once. He's in San Francisco right now." Willow answered.

"San Francisco? Do you, do you think he's chosen a new Slayer?" Dawn asked.

"I can't tell. I have the old council's Slayer Detection Spell, but it goes nuts with all the Slayers still alive. Remember, that spell was designed back when there was 'One girl in all the world' so it only had to show the one Slayer. Our new multi-slayer spell is tied to the scythe, and that one doesn't show anyone new in San Francisco, just Kristin. But we could go to San Francisco and try the short-range council spell. That one should work, as long as we ignore Kristin's influence on it. I think I can exclude her if she's in a circle at the time."

Dawn wasn't sure what to say about that. She had missed Xander more then even Buffy for some reason. Perhaps it was because Buffy had died once before, but Xander had always been a part of her life. For over forty years Xander had been there for her whether she wanted him or not. When the day came that she realized he really was gone, it had been devastating. The only other time she could remember feeling so lost was when her Mother had died. But unlike with her Mother, she hadn't even realized how much a part of her life, even absent as he had been for many years, he had been. And it wasn't just her. It was like every member of the Council, be they Slayer, Watcher, or Witch had had a Xander Story, a personal tale of how he personally saved their life in one way or another. The day he had died, even though most people hadn't known it, the entire world had mourned his passing. A surprising number of demons had even shown up either at his service or afterwards to pay their respects.

And now, according to Willow, he was back. Dawn told Willow she'd meet her there and hung up to call the airlines. She was going to San Francisco, and nothing was going to stop her.

Sally could almost dismiss the events of the night before as a delusion of some sort. Almost.

The shattered clock radio on her nightstand, where she had casually slapped the snooze button provided forevermore mute testimony to the reality of the changes in her reaction times and strength.

The bent metal handle of her hair brush provided yet another piece of evidence.

And the voice in her head commenting on her choice of breakfast cereal provided the final bit of evidence.

"I'm just saying," it was saying, "with a Slayer type metabolism, you need more sugary goodness in your morning diet. And caffeine. Nothing peps a slayer up in the morning better than a big steaming cup of caffeinated coffee. With lots of crème and sugar."

"Are you sure you aren't describing what YOU would want for breakfast?" she grumbled out loud, too tired this early in the day to try subvocalizing to Xan, the voice in her head.

"Did I say Twinkies and Hot Cocoa?" the voice asked.

"No. You said sugary cereal and coffee." Sally replied.

"Then I'm not describing my ideal breakfast. Just a general rule for Slayers." Xan replied.

"But I'm not a Slayer, you said I'm a Protector." Sally elucidated.

"Protector or Slayer, the metabolism is probably the same. In fact, it's likely you might need even MORE sugar and carbohydrates if you have both the Hyena and the Slayer mojo going for you. Oh, and a nice big rare steak. Do you feel like a steak?"

Sally hated the voice in her head. It was WAY too perky this time of the day. "No, I don't feel like a steak. I'm a strict vegetarian. I don't eat anything with a face."

The voice in her head seemed to take a step back at this revelation. "But"

"No butts either. Nothing with a face, or a Butt." Sally affirmed, mostly to shut the damn voice up for a while.

"Have you considered Twinkies dunked in Hot Chocolate? No faces there, other than the happy ones of the people lucky enough to eat them." Xan finally asked.

"NO TWINKIES! I HATE THE DAMN THINGS!" Sally yelled, likely loud enough to startle her neighbors. Certainly loud enough that she could still hear the echoes of her own voice coming back to her from other rooms in the house.

She could feel the shock radiating from Xan at her outburst. She almost felt sorry for the eager spirit. Almost. It was too damn early in the morning. She needed a shower.

Willow called Dawn as she was about to leave for the airport, and asked her where she was, exactly.

"I'm about to leave the Council Offices, to try and get to the airport to catch my flight which leaves at 9:30, which is in an hour and a half. Why?" Dawn asked, perturbed.

"Go down to the Wiccan Studies chamber" Willow instructed, "Find Jennifer and her coven. They should be ready for you by the time you get there."

"Why would I want to go down there, when I am late for the airport already?" Dawn asked, starting to lose her patience with her oldest remaining friend.

"They should have a spell ready for you. We're going to teleport to San Francisco. The coven there is all ready with a receiving circle, and I'm going to go to you, and then we'll both go to them."

Dawn shuddered at the thought, then reconsidered it. She had been teleported once before ten years ago, when she had been needed in Spain to help stop an apocalypse. Afterwards, she had insisted on a normal airline flight back home to Cleveland, and vowed never to be teleported again for anything less than another apocalypse. But this was Xander. Or at least Willow thought it was. And on the scale of things, a possible Xander was as important, at least to her, as was another apocalypse. "Fine. But I'm flying back here the normal way. Got it?"

Willows relived babble assured her it wouldn't be a problem. With a sigh Dawn hung up the phone and took a final look around her office before heading down to find Jennifer's coven.

Issues came to a head as Sally was driving to school. A red sportscar, possibly a Vette, cut in front of her lane, causing her to slam on the brakes.

Unfortunatly, her new strength and reaction time resulted in her slamming the break pedal through the bottom of her car, and the vehicle behind her slamming into her own suddenly immobile vehicle.

As the other cars on the road started honking at the unexpected obstacle in their course created by the two interlocked cars, Sally felt her temper finally let go completely. "That's IT! I WANT YOU THE FUCK OUT OF MY HEAD AND OUT OF MY LIFE! GET OUT! NOW!" she screamed, slamming the door off her car in her rage, the twisted metal providing further evidence of her rage, and it's cause.

Xan seemed to shirnk to a point inside her mind, before finally replying, "Ok. I'll try, Sally. If I succeed you shouldn't hear from me again, so I'll take this time to wish you a long and happy life. Goodbye."

Sally suddenly felt a wrenching sensation inside her mind, a wash of vertigo flooding over her senses, and then everything went black.

Dawn and Willow rode through the streets of San Francisco, driven by Marcus, Kristen's mage/watcher. They were following the old Council Slayer Locater Spell, which was working surprisingly well, once they had Kristin contained in a circle which blocked mystical energies.

The signal had led them on a curving course, as though their target was close but moving for the last half-hour. But now the course was steady and unchanging, indicating that the target had come to rest.

Just ahead traffic was blocked by what looked like a rather nasty collision, one car rammed firmly into the rear of another, the front car's door somehow torn off in the impact, and an ambulance and paramedics on scene to transport at least one of the passengers. It was as the ambulance pulled away that they realized their slayer must be inside, the target suddenly shifting around like a compass by a speaker.

"Dang it!" Willow cursed, "Either she's in the ambulance, or one of the EMTs. What do you want to bet our new slayer was in the crash?"

"It's a well known fact that Slayers can't drive. Their reaction times are too quick, they tend to over-correct and scare everyone to death, as well as causing several near-accidents with the vehicles around them" Marcus pointed out.

"Tell me about it, Buffy was my sister, remember?" Dawn replied, as Marcus pulled out of line and maneuvered around the wreck so he could follow the ambulance.

Sally came back to awareness in a vehicle. She was lying on a bed, in a vehicle. With a siren. Finally piecing the bits together, she decided she was in an ambulance. "Wha?" she managed, her world still spinning. The sound of the siren was painfully loud. She really wished it would shut up, or she would pass out again, she really didn't care which.

"Miss? It's ok. You've been in an auto collision. Your car was struck from behind, and you were somehow thrown through your door and into the street despite your seatbelt. We're taking you to the hospital. You should be fine in no time. Just lay back, relax, and enjoy the ride."

"Siren loud." Sally managed to whine out, trying to raise her hands to cover her ears, but they seemed to be tied down somehow.

"That's ok, honey. We're almost there. It won't be on for much longer."

Sally tugged against whatever was holding her arms down, and heard a pair of snapping sounds, her arms suddenly free to move.

"Jesus Christ!" the attendant said, jumping back from her as she raised her hands up and futilely placed them against her ears to try and mute the sound.

By breaking several traffic laws, Marcus had managed to catch up with the ambulance as it wound its way through the streets towards its destination. "Damn, now I feel like a lawyer" he muttered as he ran another red light so he could stay on the ambulance's tail.

The ambulance finally came to rest at a hospital emergency entrance, where the occupants of the car watched as someone on a gurney was removed and carried inside the facility, the locator spell swinging wildly to follow the action. When several minutes later the attendants returned with an empty gurney, the question of the identity of the Slayer was answered by the immobility of the detection spell. Whoever had been wheeled into the hospital was the new Slayer.

Parking the car in the visitor lot, the three occupants prepared to venture inside in search of their target.

Sally was relieved by the silencing of the siren. That was of the good.

But the hospital itself was an even worse torture for another of her senses, her sense of smell.

Everywhere were hideous chemical smells, and odors she could only tentatively identify as death and sickness.

As soon as she was inside the emergency room she found herself wishing to be back in the ambulance with the annoyingly loud siren.

Unfortunately there didn't seem to be any friendly Djinn around to grant her wish. And even when she called out loud for Xan, the voice in her head remained stubbornly silent.

The Doctor handling triage had preliminarily diagnosed the new female patient as suffering from a concussion. She had apparently been suffering from hypersensitivity in the ambulance, complaining about the siren as they drove her here. According to the ride-along-attendant, she had also somehow managed to break the tie-downs on the stretcher, but hadn't reacted violently, simply tried to cover her ears.

After her arrival in the Emergency Room, her complaints had shifted from sounds to smells, as she started complaining loudly about the various odors surrounding her.

In all honesty, he could smell what she was describing as well, but none of the odors were anywhere as strong as her reactions indicated. He ordered an MRI even as she started calling out for someone named Xan to help her.

Willow and Dawn made their way into the Emergency room, and up to the nurses desk, Marcus trailing quietly behind. 

The admissions nurse looked up at the three apparently uninjured and healthy people, and offering a professional smile asked, "Can I help you?"

Dawn spoke first, "There was a patient just brought in, from a car crash."

"Name?" the nurse asked, bringing her computer online for a standard patient search.

Dawn looked at Willow who shrugged. "We don't know. We know her, but we don't know her personally."

The nurse frowned at them, "We can't release any patient information unless you are immediate family. And most family at least knows each other's names."

Willow tried, "Yes, but we don't want any information about her, we just need to." Willow cut off as a female voice could be heard from one of the rooms down the hall calling out "Xan!"

Dawn looked at Willow. Willow looked at Dawn. Both women turned as one and bolted towards the room from which the voice emanated, the nurse calling out to them "Stop, you can't go in there!"

Sally was still calling out futilely for Xan when two women came rushing into the room, one a graying redhead in her mid to late fifties, and the other a young twenty year old brunette with long straight hair.

They both looked at her, and rushed over, "Were you calling for Xander?" the redhead asked.

Sally blinked at them. "Xander? That was the name of the man."

The women looked at each other, as the nurse and the doctor pursued them into the room. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave immediately" the nurse began as she stepped in, the attending physician right behind her.

"Which man?" the brunette asked.

"The one Xan told me about." Sally replied.

The two women looked at each other, then almost simultaneously they asked, "Is he ok?" "Where is he?"

"Ladies" the nurse prompted.

Marcus had meanwhile joined them, silently standing in the doorway behind the doctor and the nurse.

Sally tried to answer. "Last night. Xan told me about Xander, and how he died. Xan saved my life last night. And then this morning, everything was wrong. I got mad. I told Xan to go away. I think. I think she did. I miss her, I want her back. Please get Xan back." Sally cried, locking eyes with first one woman than the other. She noticed that they were both starting to cry. The redhead looked at her younger companion, and they exchanged a hug, before the redhead told her, "If we can find him, we'll tell him."

Sally tried again, "Please. Tell Xan I want her back. Please."

Sally was crying herself as the two women were led out of her room.

Xan found herself elsewhere. Looking down into the darkness, she saw what was once a familiar sight to her memories, although never from this perspective before.

A fortyish Slayer was facing off against several demons.

Laying on the ground near her was an obviously dead hunter from her team, his head twisted to an unnatural angle.

And pinned by another demon, being held as a shield was another man who she identified as most likely the Slayer's Watcher.

Xan felt almost drawn to the man, as though being reeled in like a fish on a line.

Once more, she reached out and touched the man's mind, and issued her offer, "I can help, if you want. But I must warn you, it'll be a life-long commitment." The words were different this time though, while the concepts were identical, the actual words were in Russian.

The trapped watcher, much like Sally had done looked around nervously, at least as much as he could while being held by the demon. Finally he whispered softly, "Da.", and Xan spoke once more, pulling a name from the man's mind, "Very well, Pitor, I Choose you.", and with that she flowed into his body, giving him her strength, speed, and reflexes. 

The watcher shifted subtly in the demon's arms, before suddenly exploding into motion. The demon lasted only seconds against the newest Protector, and then together with the Slayer, they turned their attentions on the remaining five demons. There wasn't the slightest question as to the outcome of the fight at that point. 

Xan almost pitied the demons. Almost.

End 


End file.
